Losing My Keys

The Florida Keys

 

I guess I really have not given key chains much thought over the past 30 years or so. That is, until today.

I remember my first key chain. I was not even close to driving age yet but I had a little key chain. The novelty of buying souvenirs at roadside stops was new to me when my family started taking summer vacations by car.  This was back in the early 1970’s. Places were popping up along highways and were great for families to stop in relative comfort and safety. They boasted gas, clean restrooms, air conditioning and deals on pecan logs. I never had a pecan log but apparently they were the rage because still today I see highway signs boasting that they have pecan logs.

Souvenirs with our names on them was a novelty. It was not like today where there are unlimited items with hundreds of names to choose from. At the time only a few of the most common names were available. Lucky for me I have a common name or at least it was a common name back then.

So, being about ten years away from being able to drive (at that time the legal driving age was 18), I had my own key chain. It was leather, had my name on it and pretty flowers like you saw everywhere back in the 1970’s. Summer vacations were a time when most families drove to their destinations rather than flying. Flying a family our size was expensive. Heck, back then, flying just one person was expensive. So every summer on at least one stop I would pick up something to add to my key chain. I did not have a key, just several key chains strung together. I just thought they were pretty. When hardware stores started selling keys of different colors my Dad bought a red blank key for me to put on my chain. I was sooo grown up!

Fast forward to the past year; I have been slowly giving away the keys on my grown up key chain. I had not really thought about it until today. Key chains and keys are not something we generally put a lot of thought into unless we cannot find them. Each time I removed a key over the past year it had a little pang of sadness go away with it.

I sold a business which took two keys off the chain. We sold Mark’s car, there went another key. We have a car in storage with a friend, there went another key. We also sold our home, another key gone. Luckily the pang did not last long. We are moving forward toward our new life. It was part of the journey but a bit bittersweet.

I have only four keys left. All but one will be relinquished in the next month or so.  A marina key, a post office box key and a key to a car we plan to sell.  The boat key will be our only key left and a constant for our cruising life. How funny, if only the boat key was red I would have gone full circle.

Losing My Keys

Cindy's Two Cents Worth at 50% Off

A week or so ago, Mark was working on a post for the blog. I think he was writing about moving from the house onto the boat. He asked me if at some point I would “add my two cents on the subject” and put it in a post.  I think I was busy trying to store the twenty tons of stuff we brought from the house onto the boat, or sorting laundry, or something else just as exciting. Without much thought I simply said, “Ok.” Little did I realize he actually wrote it in the post that I would be commenting soon.  To my surprise people actually sent a few emails wanting to know when I would be posting my “two cents worth” (I think he posted one or two of the emails).

I am often amazed at the response Mark gets on the blog. I guess I am surprised people are interested in our journey from land to sea. We have not even left and people read what we have to say. I guess I assumed the only people who would read the blog would be family and friends. They get most of the information first hand so to me the blog would be more a diary for us to look back on. I am humbled people are interested and follow our postings of this journey.

So here are my responses to a couple of the questions put to me. I sincerely hope it helps. Also, I am open to questions about this transition. Just shoot us a comment. I often wished I had someone to bounce this stuff off along the way.

The Journey

I have found in life that almost anything takes a lot longer in execution than it looks on paper. The road to cruising has proven this theory correct. It all sounds so simple; buy a boat, quite your job, move onto the boat and head for the islands. It might actually be that simple but we are the planning type people. Suffice it to say we are not the “just do it” people. I don’t want to ever find myself in a bad situation but if I am in one, I’d like to know I have the ability to get out of it. For this reason, we tend to research, organize and plan before we leap into something new. It might take us longer but we feel more comfortable about it. The problem is, a person can get stuck and never leave the dock due to never being finished planning or something in life intervenes. We have seen it happen to others firsthand.

We are trying to balance safety, planning and still actually go on the adventure. We have not left yet but at least we are still moving in that direction. It can be darn difficult to get rid of land life. Not for sake of not wanting to, but because there are so many other factors that constantly get in the way. More on that in a later post.

 

Living Aboard

The one question women ask the most concerns selling their home to live on a boat full-time. Untying a boat, leaving a set way of life, friends and family behind for adventures unknown can be very scary to a lot of people. There is this thought that living aboard full-time and never returning home is the only way to go. A lot of people enjoy visiting the boat on weekends and vacations and leaving port for adventures but living aboard is something they are not sure they want to do. I can’t blame them at all. It is not for everyone. There are other options. There is not a right way to cruise. And who says you have to cruise thousands miles away from home to have fun? It should be what works for you.

Here is where my experience ends and my research and secondhand knowledge kicks in. This is why you are getting 50% off my two cents worth. The following are a few examples of what we’ve seen firsthand or heard from friends out cruising:

Keep a home and fly: We have friends (and know of other cruisers) who have a home and a boat. They spend their winter and spring cruising.  They put the boat on the hard for hurricane season and fly home. They fly back to the boat and pick up cruising where they left off.  Others cruise and fly home a couple times year for extended visits of a few weeks or months (think holidays and special events). This is highly budget dependent but it is a good transition or compromise.

Cruisers who stay near their home port: We have met quite a lot of people who do two and three week adventures from a home port. Once they are ready they go for longer adventures. Sometimes they will leave for a few months at a time but they always go back to their home port. They are having a ball. They still have a house to go back to when they want a real shower and kitchen. Hey, people do it in RV’s all the time. Many of the people who chose this option downsize their home and boat in order to afford both.

Live on the boat with a marina as a home port: Same idea as above but you live in the marina and take trips from there. No house. The idea is to slowly expand your horizons to further away places. If it does not work out you have the safety of returning to a home port and going back to smaller excursions.

Somewhat non-traditional cruising: This is the category we fit into. We have downsized to living on the boat. We are going to leave and not have a house or home port. We do not have plans of sailing around the world; Far from it. We have a list of places we’d like to go but nothing set in stone. We just want to travel and enjoy retirement. If we go back to the same place twice, would that be so bad? Most importantly, if this does not work out we are ok with going back to a land life or tying one of the other categories above.

We both agree that Netjeting to adventurous places would be our first pick of transportation in retirement but since we’ve yet to win the lottery, Cream Puff was a close second.

I hope this helps.

Cindy's Two Cents Worth at 50% Off

Frustration

A day in my life.

“Hey Cindy, today I’m going to install the new GPS unit I bought. You remember me telling you about it. It tracks the Russian satellites from the GLONASS system as well as the USA system. I think I told you about it, didn’t I? Well, during the cold war, the former Soviet Union set up their version of the USA GPS system called GLONASS. I have a new GPS unit that tracks both the Russian and USA satellites and is extremely accurate and fast. It will update our position once a second. Anyway, I am going to hook it up today. Let me check to make sure I have everything I need…. I have to run to West Marine, to get an extension cable for the antenna or some wire and fittings to make an extension cable. I’ll be back in an hour.”

One hour later Cindy’s phone rings.

“Hey it’s me. West Marine didn’t have what I needed. Well, they kind of did, but it would require me reworking my whole plan and their stuff is so darn expensive. Seriously! I asked them for a RP-TNC 10’ cable. They looked at me like I was crazy. I can’t believe they don’t know what a TNC fitting is. I could work around it using some PL-232 fittings but I would need four fittings and two connectors. They want $12 each for each fitting and $10 for each connectors. That’s $68! Heck! That’s half of what I paid for the fancy GPS unit. I think they should be ashamed of themselves. I did buy the rail mount I needed. I needed two of them. They only had one in stock, as usual. I hate this store, they never have anything I need. I don’t know why I even bother to go there anymore. Hello? Heellloo? Darn cheap cell phones!”

One hour later Cindy’s phone rings.

“Hey, it’s me. I went to Radio Shack. Their PL-232 fittings were one forth the price of West Marines. I don’t really want PL-232 fittings but it just proves my point about West Marine. Anyway, they did have a TNC fitting but they only stock the male fittings. If I’m going to make the extension, I need both a male and a female fitting. So, I am going to try a couple of other stores. There’s a Best Buy down the street. I won’t be too long.”

One hour later Cindy’s phone rings.

“Hey, it’s me. I went to Best Buy. They really don’t sell anything in the way of parts. I don’t know why I stopped there. As a long shot, I tried Home Depot and Lowe’s. They looked at me like I was from another planet. Ya know, I don’t know why they open stores across the street from each other when they both sell exactly the same stuff. Or in my case, don’t sell the same stuff. Anyway, I’m looking for a couple of computer stores. According to the Google machine there are a couple of stores nearby and the TNC fittings are used for Wi-Fi connectors. I didn’t know that. I learned something new. I’ll see if they have a cable.”

One hour later Cindy’s phone rings.

“Hey, it’s me. I went to computer store, they didn’t sell them. I didn’t think they would but, it was worth a try. I’m a little hungry. I might stop for lunch. Go ahead and eat without me. I think I will have to order the cable on-line. I’m going to stop at the mailbox and I’ll be back soon.”

One hour later Cindy’s phone rings.

“Hey, it’s me. I slammed a sandwich. You’ll never guess what arrived at the mailbox. The new boat speakers that I ordered from Amazon. I can’t believe they got here so fast. Isn’t Amazon awesome? I think I will try to get these installed today and see how they sound. I’m on my way back. I’ll see you in a minute.”

One hour later aboard Cream Puff

“Hey Cindy, I found the extension cable for the GPS I need on line for $9 plus $2 for shipping. That’s the whole extension cable for less than West Marine was asking for just one fitting. I’m going to buy it on-line. This means installing the GPS will have to wait for another day once the cable arrives. I think I might install the speakers. I’ll open them up and make sure I have everything I need for the project. Oops! I’m going to need some connectors. I’ll be right back. I’m off to the store.”

Frustration